Tyler and I were staying at the Fiesta Inn in Phoenix, as is usual when we go there on business. Tyler, ever the perfectionist, was not happy with the room we were given when we arrived late that night. It had 2 beds in it and was not close enough to the pool. He arranged with the hotel to switch us to another, "more acceptable" room in the morning.

We got up early that next day and went to South Mountain to hike before heading into work. When we arrived back at the hotel, the maids were already in the room cleaning.

"Don't bother cleaning right now. We're going to take a shower and then we're moving to another room," I told them.

"No hablo ingles," she replied.

No problem. I was taking a Spanish class at the time. We had just learned the verb for shower 2 days before. Shower is what they call a reflexive verb--meaning that it has a pronoun attached to it that indicates you are doing it to yourself, or he is doing it to himself, etc. If you don't use the correct pronoun, you get a completely different meaning.

I didn't use the correct pronoun....

When I told her in Spanish what I thought was--Clean later. We will shower first.

What I actually told her was--Clean later. You take a shower first.

I realized this as she gave me a horrified look and ran from the room.

My Spanish is much better now.